band of ronin devoted to the Tokugawa shogun fights to protect
the Shogun when he confers with the Emperor on expulsion of foreigners;
1863-1864

Spoiler Warning: below is a summary of the
entire film.

The order of the day in Japan is to attack the foreigners and expel them from
the country. The Shogunate had to sign a treaty opening its ports to the
foreigners under pressure from the Black Ship of U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry
and his 1853 and 1854 expeditions to Japan. This whole affair angered the
Emperor. Anti-Shogunate factions exploited the division. Radical ronin (that is,
a samurai with no lord or master) from the fiefs of Tosa and Choshu started
assassinating public officials and prominent members of the Shogunate.

An anti-Shogunate group gathers at the capital of Kyoto, home of the
Emperor, located in the central part of the main island of Honshu.. The Shogunate
rules from Edo (future Tokyo) found on the eastern side of Honshu. Kyoto is
separated from Edo by 471 km. The last time a Shogun visited the Emperor
was 250 years ago. But now the Shogun has come to Kyoto to talk about the
expulsion of the foreigners.

A group of ronin ask Yamanami to come with them. Isami is with the group.
He was the master of the Ten-ne Rishin dojo. (A dojo is a sword training
facility, usually led by one or more sensei.) Then there is Okita of the
Shieikan dojo. This group of men is dedicated to the way of the sword.

Isami and Toshi Hijikata are walking. They say they want to protect their
Shogun of the Tokugawa clan. They agree that the farmers of Tama have done well
under his divine guidance. They want to make sure that the talks between the
Emperor and the Shogun are able to take place. The two also want to show others
the value of Shieikanís Ten-nen Rishin-style swordsmanship.

Isami plays with his baby girl while his wife Tsune watches. Dad is soon
going with the ronin to Kyoto.

In the city of Edo Commander Serizawa Kamo, upset that there is no room at
the inn, is on another of his drunken rampages, feeding a big bonfire in the
middle of the street. He is a leader of a troop of ronin of the Tengu Group.
Some of the ronin want to bully the man who has to find lodging for the
Commander. Kondo Isami, Mr. Ikedaís assistant, stops them. The ronin turn on
Isami. On his knees Isami blames himself and asks for their forgiveness. The
other side gives up on pursuing the matter. It turns out that Isami had been
talking to Serizawa Kamo himself.

Spring, 1863. Third year of the Bunkyu period (1861-1864). The ronin arrive
in Kyoto. The ronin are just kept waiting and they donít like it. A Dewa ronin
named Kiyokawa Hachiro, who organized the ronin troops, has been spouting off
for over an hour. Hachiro says that they support the Shogun, but if the Shogun
wonít help expel the foreigners, then the ronin must punish the Shogun. He also
tells the men that he will be their leader. This is news to the men and they
donít seem to like it. Furthermore, they are to go back to Edo and start the job
of expelling the foreigners.

Serizawa says what a load of crap this is! Isami stands up and asks what
about the need to guard the Shogun right here in Kyoto? He says they have come
to protect the Shogun and they cannot just leave without a direct order from the
Shogunate. He says he and his seven men will withdraw from the group. Serizawa
says he and his four men will also withdraw.

Everyone is going back, except the thirteen men. There is a lot of resentment
on the part of these ronin against the Shogunate retainers. They leave the
protection of the Shogun to the poor ronin. Isami, however, says they will still
protect the Shogun. They will appeal to General Matsudaira, the military
commissioner of Kyoto. A man from Serizawaís group says that the General is a
Daimyo (feudal lord) who is extremely wealthy.

The group goes to the General but the General's attitude is that these ronin
are just riffraff that nobodyís ever heard of. These ronin could shame their
Aizu fief. The General, however, is in desperate need of men. The Imperialists
of the Choshu fief are using an excessive amount of violence. He tells his
assistant to treat the ronin as pet dogs and get them what they need.

The ronin are delighted at the news. They say they are now the Shinsengumi
(meaning "newly chosen group"). The men go to the Shinsengumi Quarters. When
settled in they start recruiting and training men to help them.

Kawai Kisaburo, the son of a sake merchant, begs to be let into the ronin
group. He says he will suffer any hardship to learn to be a swordsman. They let
him join. They adopt a red and white banner with the single word "verity"
written on it. The commanders are Serizawa, Isami and Niimi Nishiki. Executives
officers are Yamanami Keisuke and Hijikata Toshizo. Staff officers are Okita
Soshi, Nagakura Shinpachi, Harada Sanosuke, Todo Heisuke, Hirayama Goro, Inoue
Genzaburo, Hirama Yusuke and Noguchi Kenji.

Soon the force is busy dispatching criminals with their swords. They even
wipe out whole organized gangs of criminals. A widow of one of the criminals,
known as Oko, demands to know who killed her husband and finds out that it was
Isami.

Some of the Mibu ronin start going to excesses. Serizawa holds a pretty woman
against her will. She was just trying to collect a bill for summer robes owed to
her husband. Serizawa has sex with her even though she says if she is found out
,she will not be able to return to her shop.

Isami learns that his ronin are mugging merchants and murdering innocent
people whenever it takes their fancy. He promises to have a serious talk with
Serizawa. Isami asks Serizawa to stop drinking so much. Serizawa basically
says that he is an alcoholic and canít stop. Isami says he must stop because
some people are trying to have their group disbanded due to the excesses.

News arrives from Yama-no-o in Gion that Commander Niimi admitted committing
several wrongs and has committed seppuku. More urgent news arrives. The group
has been ordered to guard the Shogun immediately.

1863, summer. The Incident at the Royal Gate. Government troops confront the
Shinsengumi and call them Mibu riffraff. Serizawa calls the troops a bunch of
do-nothing idiots who allowed the Choshu to mislead the Emperor into supporting
them. The Choshu are using the Emperor to overthrow the Shogunate. The Councilor
arrives just in time to prevent violence.

In private at a Shinsengumi banquet, the Councilor says they are grateful to
them because they have forced the Choshu samurai to flee Kyoto. Serizawa starts
to rough up the Councilor, but is stopped by the appearance of the courtesan
Miyuki. Serizawa gets drunk and starts behaving badly, despite Miyukiís
reproaching him for it.

At home in his room, Serizawa is upset with himself. He asks Oume to hold
him. Isami shows up to kill Serizawa. Isamiís men kill some of the guards around
Serizawa and Isami keeps thrusting his sword into Serizawa until he is dead.

Isami now assumes leadership of the entire force. He makes it clear to
everyone that the highest codes will be applied to them and they will behave
themselves. He also announces the discovery of three Choshu spies among them.
The spies are taken out of the room, they try to escape and are all killed.
Their heads are displayed at Senjo-gahara.

A meeting of some Chosu samurai is held. It is said that the Emperor and the
Shogun are cooperating with each other, but still the Court and the Shogunate
are feuding. The group is cautioned that they must wait a while more before
taking action.

The Shogun is coming to Kyoto again and will need protection. A group of
Shinsengumi have sent a spy out dressed as a beggar to find out what he can. The
spy reports that there is one very suspicious man, but he has yet been unable to
find out what he is up to.

Summer 1864, first years of the Genji period. They are torturing a man to get
him to confess. Isami finds out that this antiques merchant is Kodaka Shutaro of
Oomi. He confesses that they plan to burn the palace and the mansions of the
Shogunate Daimyo. Then they are planning to kidnap the Emperor and take him to
Choshu. They gather tonight to finalize their plans. Isami starts barking orders
for the plan to stop the plot.

Since it is the night of the Gion Festival, the streets are extremely
crowded. The Shinsengumi watch the Ikeda Mercantile where the plotters conspire.
Miyabe is their leader. He receives a letter from Katsura. There are some 40 to
50 men reported at the meeting. And there are an additional 30 men at Ikeda
Mercantile.

Isami waits for reinforcements, but they are not coming. So Isami snaps into
action on his own. He tells Toshi to take 20 men and attack Shikoku Mercantile.
Meanwhile, he along with Okita and Yamanami will go to Ikeda mercantile.

Isami and his men bust up the meeting and have to fight for survival, since
they are vastly outnumbered by the meeting attendees. The fight continues up on
the roof and out in the waters of the canal. Okita is slashed across the face,
but continues to fight. Now itís leader against leader, Isami against Miyabe.
Not surprisingly, Isami is the victor.

The Shinsengumi arrive from Shikoku Mercantile. No one was there. Now they
mop up the rest of the bad guys. And now the Aizu soldiers are deployed against
those of Choshu.

A group of Shinsengumi visit the recovering Okita. They says the Shogunate
has rewarded them for foiling the Ikeda Mercantile Conspiracy. Now the guys want
to celebrate with a party, but Isami arrives to tell them not to get too cocky.
Everyone is watching them now after their success.

A group of three Shinsengumi are ambushed and killed for revenge for the
massacre at the Ikeda Mercantile. A reluctant Isami grants the dead an honorable
funeral.

A doctor tells Okita that he has only two more years to live. Okita is
thankful for the two years.

1864. The Hamaguri Gate Incident. There is a pitched battle with the use of
cannon. The Choshu are back at it again. The palace is surrounded with ashes.
The Choshu leave, but set fire to the city of Kyoto before going. The
Shinsengumi return home saying they cant rely on the Shogunís army. Apparently,
the Shogunate can no longer raise a great army.

Isami is congratulated by the Councilor for defeating the army of Maki Izumi
at Mt. Tennozan in Yamazaki, the last refuge of the Choshu. The General now
wants to make Isumi a Shogunate vassal. Isumi says he just wants to remain the
leader of the Shinsengumi. He says he wants a favor instead. He noticed there
was no one in command to unite the Shougunate and fief forces. Isumi wants to go
to Edo to tell them how desperate the situation is in Kyoto.

Edo Castle. Isumi implores the Councilor to tell the Shogun to go to Kyoto as
quickly as possible. He says Satsuma has abandoned the Shogunate and gone over
to the Choshu. Lord Awa comes to speak to Isami and tells him it is too late to
save the Shogunate. He even goes so far as to suggest the disbandment of
Shinsengumi itself. Isumi calls Lord Awa irresponsible! He leaves.

Isamiís men have brought him Master Ito Kashitaro. Isami tells him that he
needs his help because he wants to build-up the Shinsengumi. Isami returns home
to see his wife and daughter Tamako. He has been gone for two years, but he
might have to return to Kyoto tomorrow.

Isami asks for the 500 ryo the organization has. The accountant can only give
him 450 ryo and Isami tells him to commit seppuku. Some of his officers beg him
not to make Kawai commit seppuku over a lousy 50-ryo. He has written to his
father for the money. Isami agrees to wait for ten days.

It is now snowing. While Isumi is away, Hijikata decides to have the seppuku
ceremony performed for and by the accountant. Kawai is very afraid, but he
either slits his belly open or he is to be beheaded. Kawai makes a run for it,
so his second has to kill him with numerous blows from his sword. Shortly
afterwards, the messenger arrives with the money. Isumi is upset with Hijikata,
but Hijikata says he just followed the orders he had.

Isami has a new female servant, Oyuki. Mr. Hijikata bought her contract on
his behalf. She was so happy he did.. She has prepared his favorite: sugar
candy. Oyuki tells him that ever since she met him three years ago, she has been
in love with him. Isumi returns her sentiments. He asks her to bring her sister
to live with them.

A message comes to Isami that Yamanami has deserted! Okita on horseback went
after him. Yamanami stops Okita and says he will go back with him, because if he
didnít, Okita would be blamed for his escape. Okita tells him that he has
tuberculosis and only has two more years to live. He begs him to flee. Yamanami
says they both will go back together.

The Commanders asks Yamanami why? He said he was just so sick of all the
killing. Yamanami says he used to like Isami, but now his once warm blood has
become frozen. Now he is just like Mr. Hijikata.

Yamanami drops a bomb when he says that Hijikata was responsible for the
death of Kawai. The 50-ryo was used to buy out the Shimabara womanís contract.
He calls Hijikata and Isumi puppets. Yamanami commits seppuku and his second
Okita lops off his head.

In his home Oko tries to kill Isumi for killing her husband. Oko turns out to
be the sister of Oyuki. Standing in front of Isami to protect him, Oyuki tells
Oko she will have to kill her first. Oko starts to run at her sister, but Isami
grabs the knife and takes it away from her. She cries that she hates the
Imperialists and the Shongunate and the entire world.

The Emperor and the Shogun are now both dead, along with their dream of
reconciliation. Satsuma and Choshu plot to use the new Emperorís ascension to
destroy the Shogunate.

Hijikata asks the Shinsengumi military advisor Ito if he is a spy. The man
then goes to Isami and says he is taking a group of fifteen men and acting as
spies they will infiltrate the Choshu government. They will report their
findings back to Isami. Isami agrees to let them go.

As the military advisor walks down the street one night he is confronted by
Isami. They duel and Isami kills the man. His disciples rush to him promising
vengeance on Isami, but as they begin to pick up their master, they are all cut
down from behind by Shinsengumi men.

The new Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu reinstates Imperial rule. People start to
flee Kyoto saying that the Satsuma and Choshu are coming. Isami talks with Oyuki
and asks about her sister. Oko is working in Edo, says Oyuki. He tries to give
her money so she can run away to somewhere safe and start a new life. He says he
wonít be returning. The Aizu clan has left for Osaka Castle with the Shogunate
forces. The Shinsengumi now have to pacify Fushimi. They all have to leave
Kyoto. Oyuki says she will stay with Isami. When she learns she can't go with
him, Oyuki says she will wait right here in Kyoto until he returns.

Isami rides to Fushimi. He is ambushed along the way. He receives a gun shot
to the shoulder. The men who rush him say this is in revenge for Master Ito. But
Isami kills a number of them and gets away.

Shinsengumi Headquarters. Four men carry the bandaged Isami in a palanquin to
Osaka Castle, while the others wish him well.

The Battle of Toba and Fushimi. The Shinsengumi are out of their league.
Their enemy is using rifles and killing quite a few of them. Okita takes a group
of men and charges the enemy, but it turns out to be a suicide mission. The
bullets cut them all down.

The still living Shinsengumi learn that their enemy has raised the
Imperialist flag, which would now make the Shinsengumi rebels. But they are not
opposed to the Emperor! Now they learn that the Shogun has gone by ship to Edo.
They decide to go to Edo to be with the Shogun.

Tsune returns home to find her husband there. She hugs him and cries. Tamako
is with her uncle. Isami is dressed in a peasantís costume. He has to tell his
wife that he has to go. Isami says he will be back soon.

Isami tells Lord Awa that he just came to say goodbye before they leave for
Koshu with the Koyo suppression force. He admits that Lord Awa had an elegant
way to remove the Shinsengumi from Edo. But before he goes, he wants Lord Awa to
know that he hates war. The Shogun has given up authority after 300 years, but
Satsuma and Choshu have tried to make him a traitor and have dragged him into
this war. He says to hell with the Imperialists because they only support the
Emperor to gain power. They canít retreat now or the proud history of the
Tokugawa clan will be damaged. This is why he fights.

The black and white banners of the Koyo Suppression Force wave in the breeze
as the force moves forward. A group from Isamiís home of Tama beg him to let
them join him in the fight. He refuses politely. A little later a ferocious
battle takes place.

A signpost says Shofusa, Nagareyama. Staff Officer Arima Tota of the Imperial
Army shouts to the men of the Nagareyama headquarters that they are surrounded.
He demands that the Shinsengumi and Isami surrender immediately!

The men go to speak with Isami. They say the Koyo Suppression Force was
defeated and now they are surrounded. Isami tells all his men to flee, to escape
while he is meeting with the enemy messenger. Toshi doesnít want to let Isami
stay behind, but Isami insists.

Isami goes down and speaks with Arima Tota, who was the former Shogun
Tokugawa Yoshinobu. Their side is mad when they realize that Isami has
sacrificed himself so his men could escape.

Isami is to be beheaded. Arima wants him to have the privilege of committing
seppuku. In fact, he really wants Isami spared so that he can serve the new
Meiji government. To fight the foreigners, Japan will need men like Isami. But
General Tani insists that Isami be beheaded.

A big crowd has come to see the death of Isami, including the two main women
in his life. Isami says he was a neglectful family man and he wishes he could
have seen his daughter for one last time. He asks Arima to give him a dagger so
he can shave his growth of beard. He wants his head to look good wherever it is
to be displayed. Isami says to the executioner: "Please proceed." And off goes
his head.

In the 4th year of the Keio period, on April 25, Kondo Isami was
executed at Itabashi.

Good movie. Follows the story of Kondo Isami (1834-1868), the founder
of the Shinsengumi, an police organization that became well known for arresting
a radical cell of shishi (i.e., Japanese political activists). Kondo was
caught up in the fight between at least three forces: those behind the
Emperor, those behind the Emperor for their own designs and those behind the
Shogun. Kondo started out just wanting to protect the Shogun when he was
in Kyoto negotiating with the Emperor. His career took off from this
limited beginning to include the police and the military.
ToshirŰ Mifune is such a good actor
that it is not surprising that he was again very good in this role as Kondo
Isami.